Here is a list of some famous people who happen to be dyslexic. It is important to note that these people have become successful because of their gift of dyslexia, not in spite of it.

Thomas Edison
Famed inventor and businessman

"My teachers say I'm addled...my father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided I was a dunce."

"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Richard Branson
Entrepreneur and Virgin Brand mogul

"Perhaps my early problems with dyslexia made me more intuitive: when someone sends me a written proposal, instead of dwelling on detailed facts and figures, I find that my imagination grasps and expands on what I read."

Walt Disney
Film producer and director, founder of The Walt Disney Company

"Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language."

"You should prefer a good scientist without literary abilities than a literate one without scientific skills."

Whoopi Goldberg
Oscar-winning actress

"When I was a kid they didn't call it dyslexia... you were slow, or you were retarded or whatever. What you can never change is the effect that the words 'dumb' and 'stupid' have on young people. I knew I wasn't stupid and I knew I wasn't dumb. If you read to me I could tell you everything that you read. They didn't know what it was. They knew I wasn't lazy, but what was it?"

Albert Einstein
Nobel-prize winning theoretical physicist

"He told me that his teachers reported that... he was mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in his foolish dreams." - Hans Albert Einstein, on his father Albert

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."

Agatha Christie
Author of 80 mystery novels, and the best-selling fiction writer of all time.

"I, myself, was always recognized... as the 'slow one' in the family... Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was... an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day."

Charles Schwab
Founder and CEO of Charles Schwab Corporation

"...That's the real problem with kids who struggle with learning... some kids feel like they're stupid. I want them to know that they're not. They just learn differently. Once they understand that a have the tools to learn in their individual way, then they can feel good about themselves."

Pablo Picasso
Famed painter and sculptor

"For those who know how to read, I have painted my autobiography."

Muhammad Ali
Heavyweight boxing champion, considered one of the greatest sportsmen of the 20th century

"As a high school student, many teachers lablled me as dumb... I barely graduated... I could barely read my textbooks."

Orlando Bloom
Actor

"I suppose my dyslexia... made me feel that I wasn't smart enough. I was always bright, but I found it hard in the classroom. Once I passed my exams, I felt better because I knew that I could do it if I applied myself."

"I was, on the whole, considerably discouraged by my school days. It was not pleasant to feel oneself so completely outclassed and left behind at the beginning of the race."

Keira Knightley
Oscar-nominated actress

"I remember going to an audition when I was eight, and it was the most excruciating experience because I couldn't read the lines. So I had to learn. My desire to act was my driving force. I got really good help from some amazing teachers and my mother and my father worked tirelessly with me, so by the time I was eleven I had... overcame the dyslexia and now it's not really a problem."

Gwen Stefani
Grammy-award winning singer

"It was such a turning point to find that I had a talent and I had something to contribute, somewhere."

Danny Glover
Actor and director

"Perhaps had I not been dyslexic, I might have chosen a different profession. Acting gave me a way of expressing some of that inner life that was raging inside me as result of dyslexia."

Cher
Singer and Oscar-winning actress

"When I was in school it was really difficult. Almost everything I learned I had to learn by listening... Don't focus on how dyslexia makes life tougher...instead... hear the invisible voices of creativity that sing louder in your heart than those less fortunate people who have not been given our gift... Make peace with it and fly!"

Professional services described as Davis™, Davis Dyslexia Correction®, Davis Symbol Mastery®, Davis Orientation Counseling®, and Davis Math Mastery® may only be provided by persons who are employed by a licensed Davis Specialist, or who are trained and licensed as Davis Facilitators by Davis Dyslexia Association International.